Union-only O.C. hiring pacts raise alarms

Alfred Dennison, founder of Dennison Electric, says his 33-year-old business will be affected by a proposal by two Orange County college districts to exclude non-union construction workers from being hired.ROSE PALMISANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

O.C. labor pacts

At least three project labor agreements have been used by county governments in recent years.

2000: County Board of Supervisors signs off on a five-year union pact covering most construction projects. Critics accuse supervisors of agreeing to the plan in exchange for union backing for a proposed airport at the El Toro Marine base, now the Great Park. In late 2004, supervisors decide not to renew the pact; it expires in 2005.

2003: Rancho Santiago Community College District signs a five-year project labor pact after voters OK $337 million Measure E construction bond. A decade later, after passage of $198 million Measure Q construction bond, the district is again moving forward with a union pact.

Upcoming decision

The Coast Community College District will consider moving forward with a project labor agreement – which the district is calling a community workforce agreement – at a board meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at district headquarters, 1370 Adams Ave., Costa Mesa. The pact, which still would need to be negotiated with construction union leaders, would cover $698 million in Measure M construction bonds.

Correction

Rancho Santiago trustee Phil Yarbrough was one of two trustees to cast a dissenting vote Monday regarding the district's proposed project labor agreement. Because of a reporting error, his first name was incorrect when the article was initially published online.

For 33 years, electrical contractor Alfred Dennison's bread and butter have been public-works projects, mostly at public schools and community colleges.

But Dennison's company isn't unionized, and the 20 electricians and apprentices who work for Dennison Electric in Los Alamitos aren't interested in joining a labor union, Dennison said.

That stance could exclude Dennison Electric from bidding on electrical work for about $900 million in renovation and construction projects set to begin in the coming months at two Orange County community college districts.

The Santa Ana-based Rancho Santiago Community College District decided Monday to move forward with a plan to hire only unionized workers for a series of upcoming renovation projects at Santa Ana College worth $198 million; the Costa Mesa-based Coast Community College District will consider a similar plan Wednesday, worth $698 million. The money will come from construction-bond programs approved by voters in November.

"These agreements are just absurd and they're eliminating competition," said Dennison, who founded his Los Alamitos company in 1980. "I don't know how a district can ever think about entering into these agreements. I don't ask that the unions not be able to bid."

But Rancho Santiago officials don't see it that way. At a board meeting Monday night, district trustees extolled the advantages of excluding non-unionized workers, saying that so-called project labor agreements ensure a supply of skilled, professional laborers from the local community, and guarantee against strikes and work slowdowns.

Under a project labor agreement, the employer and union leaders agree in advance to written terms and conditions for hiring and managing staff for construction projects.

"We want to make it clear that this board has labor peace, stability, and we are hiring our students, giving them some preference, and we're looking to our local community, including veterans," Rancho Santiago trustee John Hanna told his colleagues Monday.

Rancho Santiago trustees voted 5-2, with trustees Arianna Barrios and Phil Yarbrough dissenting, to authorize district officials to hammer out a labor agreement with construction union leaders. Once the pact is written, it will be brought back to trustees for a final vote.

PIECEMEAL PACTS

Project labor agreements aren't common, but union leaders have successfully negotiated them on a piecemeal basis with government agencies over the past century.

Kevin Dayton, a Roseville-based construction-labor consultant who opposes project labor agreements, said that of the hundreds of such agreements ratified by government agencies, tens of thousands of other projects have been completed with no such agreement.

Shortly after taking office, President Obama issued an executive order encouraging the use of project labor agreements in the public sector, noting they provided "structure and stability" to large-scale government projects.

Orange County supervisors, by contrast, approved an ordinance in 2009 barring the county from requiring such union pacts. That decision followed a five-year stint in which the county used union-only agreements for most construction projects from 2000 to 2005.

Federal data indicate most construction workers aren't unionized. An estimated 13.7 percent of the U.S. construction workforce was represented by a labor union last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Alfred Dennison, founder of Dennison Electric, says his 33-year-old business will be affected by a proposal by two Orange County college districts to exclude non-union construction workers from being hired. ROSE PALMISANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Santa Ana College student Kelvin Quach of Garden Grove does an experiment using a bunsen burner in a chemistry class on Monday. Science labs on the college campus are slated to be replaced as a result of the recent bond measure approval. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Green netting covers a temporary fence erected around the southwest corner of Santa Ana College where a construction project is underway. Projects slated to take place as a result of the recent voter approved bond measure have not broken ground yet. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Santa Ana College student Miriam Mucio of Santa Ana uses a Compound Microscope in the Biology Lab on Monday. Science labs on the college campus are slated to be replaced as a result of the recent bond measure approval. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Green netting covers a temporary fence erected around a section of the Santa Ana College parking lot where renovations are taking place. Dunlap Hall, behind the construction area, is slated to receive renovations as a result of the recently approved bond measure benefitting the school. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
The inside of the Johnson Campus Center on the campus of Santa Ana College will undergo a complete makeover as a result of the recently approved bond measure benefitting the school. Many of the offices are currently setup behind temporary walls, and finding the student health center can be somewhat difficult. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Markings on the pavement around the "campus mall" show where concrete is slated to be broken out as a result of the recently approved bond measure benefitting the school. It will be replaced with a paving system that will allow easy access to gas lines, fire lines, technology lines, and other school infrastructure, which typically run below ground. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Dunlap Hall, on the campus of Santa Ana College, is slated to receive renovations as a result of the recently approved bond measure benefitting the school. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
"The Spot," inside of the Johnson Campus Center on the campus of Santa Ana College is a place where students go to relax between classes. It will be part of the complete makeover of the inside of the center as a result of the recently approved bond measure benefitting the school. The biggest changes to "The Spot" will be the addition of new technologies which will allow students to easily connect to the internet, and do school work in a relaxed environment. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Alfred Dennison, founder of Dennison Electric, says his 33-year-old business will be affected by a proposal by two Orange County college districts to exclude non-union construction workers from being hired. ROSE PALMISANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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